Addiction is a mental illness during which someone becomes dependent on a substance (alcohol, drugs or medication) or a habit (such as gambling, gaming or watching porn). The life of an addicted person mainly revolves around obtaining and using the substance or acting on the habit. This is often at the expense of relationships, work, study and friends. An addict is not able to quit the drug for a long period of time or stop the behaviour despite multiple attempts to quit. The urge (also called craving) for the substance or habit remains strong, making it increasingly difficult for an addict to quit.

 

Substance or behavioural addiction?

You can become addicted to substances, such as alcohol, drugs or medication. This is called a substance addiction. In addition, a person can also become addicted to a particular habit or behaviour. We call this a behavioural addiction. Porn, sex, internet, gambling or gaming are examples of behavioural addictions. The symptoms and complaints associated with a behavioural addiction are the same as those associated with a substance addiction. You experience the same urge (craving) to carry out the behaviour over and over again to get that good feeling.

 

Physical and/or mental dependence

Mental dependence can occur with almost all forms of substance or behavioural addiction. You start to crave the substance or behaviour more and more. Without it, you feel uncomfortable or even anxious. With physical dependence, your body becomes addicted to the drug and you experience withdrawal symptoms when you stop using it. The symptoms can be very intense. As a result, in some cases it is strongly recommended that you stop taking a substance under the supervision of a doctor or psychiatrist.

 

Recovery process

Do you experience a lot of negative consequences as a result of your addiction? Do you want to live a life without always falling back into the same patterns? During the treatment process, you will learn who you are as a person without your addiction and what is important to you in life. You will also be given tools to deal with certain emotions or situations in a healthy way without relapsing.

 

Sources:

  • Keijsers, G. P. J., Van Minnen, A., Verbraak, M., Hoogduin, C. A. L. & Emmelkamp, P., (2017). Protocollaire behandelingen voor volwassenen met psychische klachten.
  • Brijder

Emotions are complex. When you experience emotions, the experience can involve many different things. All kinds of theories have been written about this in recent decades. In a nutshell, an emotion is a specific state of mind. You can experience one or more emotions at the same time and each emotion causes a different reaction. Within Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), there are 5 emotions which are most commonly used: Happy, Angry, Scared, Sad and Ashamed. These emotions are relatively easy to identify and categorize. However, there are also more complex emotions that could fall under multiple categories, such as Jealousy.

 

Keep track of emotions

It’s good to keep track of your emotions. When you find yourself in a situation where you experience strong emotions, you can quickly and easily create a registration on the situation. By keeping track of these situations and the accompanying emotions, you will get more insight into your feelings and, thus, take the first step to making a change.
In the NiceDay app you can use the Check in or the Thought Record.

Overview of emotions:

The Delft Institute of Positive Design has researched and categorized positive and negative emotions. In the tables below, drawn up by Pieter Desmet for his research “General typology of 25 positive emotions”, you can see which emotions have been identified.

You can view the positive emotions here.

You can view the negative emotions here.

 

Sources:

  • Research Gate
  • Yoon, Jay & Pohlmeyer, Anna & Desmet, Pieter. (2013). Embodied Typology of Positive Emotions: The Development of a Tool to Facilitate Emotional Granularity in Design.

 

Emotion regulation is crucial for our mental well-being. Having problems with adequately and appropriately regulating emotions can lead to reduced well-being and, thus, increase the risk of a mental health disorder. Research has shown that disturbed emotion regulation is common in people with mood, anxiety and trauma issues.

Emotion regulation involves a number of important processes:

  • Selecting the situation: It might sound obvious, but this is the first step in influencing your emotions. For example, when you know that your ex is at a party, you may wonder if you should stay at home or if you are strong enough to go there.
  • Influencing the situation: If you do go to that party, you still have the option to talk to your ex or not. In this way, you can maintain a certain amount of control.
  • Attention: If you decide to get close to your ex, you can still have an influence on what you pay attention to. Do you focus on the other people dancing or do you watch your ex flirt with someone else?
  • Meaning: If your ex’s flirty behaviour attracts your attention, the next question is ‘how are you going to interpret it?’ What cognitive meaning do you give it? Does it mean the person your ex is flirting with is better than you, or is it good to see your ex seemingly happy?
  • Response: The meaning you just associated with the situation arouses a certain emotion. If you choose the first meaning in the example, you may feel jealous or angry. This can lead to a certain reaction, such as drinking more alcohol or suppressing your emotions.

 

Emotion regulation strategies

Emotion regulation can be done in many different ways. The effectiveness of the strategy you choose depends on the consequences. If the strategy you choose causes an increase in emotions or, on the contrary, causes negative secondary emotions or physical complaints in the long term, you may wonder whether it is a suitable strategy. Consider, for example, avoiding situations and thus perpetuating your fear, avoiding confrontations that force you to push your limits, or consuming alcohol to hide your emotions. Someone who structurally avoids situations may eventually be prone to developing, for example, an anxiety disorder.

Via this link you can find an overview of commonly used emotion regulation strategies.

Practice

Think about the strategies you regularly use to cope with your emotions. It can differ per situation! Often, our bad habits occur automatically. In order to use emotion regulation more effectively, it can help to write down your emotions for each situation in your diary and then think about how you can manage these emotions. Do you need social support? Do you want to be alone for a while and cry really hard? Or would you rather go for a walk to think carefully about your emotions and give them a place? Try to ask yourself what would help you to be strong enough to withstand that intense wave of emotions!

 

Sources:

There are five elements which help you to recognize an emotion:

  • Thoughts: This is how you evaluate a situation, for example when you think that driving through a red traffic light could lead to an accident.
  • Physical reaction: These are physical symptoms, such as sweating or a dry mouth.
  • Reaction: An emotion makes you react, for example by raising your arms to protect yourself.
  • Facial expression: An emotion often shows on your face, such as a frown or tense jaw.
  • Feeling: This is what you experience inside during an emotion.

 

Evolution and emotions

From an evolutionary point of view, humans have come across situations in which it was important to have emotions. An emotion directs behaviour. Originally, emotions had a social function. According to the social functional approach, emotions have evolved to help humans survive and reproduce. Situations that often occurred in our evolutionary past have caused emotions to develop. You can look at this from four different levels:

  • Emotions are important for your personal development;
  • People need emotions to maintain a social bond and to successfully establish cooperation between people and in groups;
  • When you feel love for someone, you connect with that person. This can eventually lead to reproduction;
  • When you are afraid, you take action and flee from danger in order to survive.

 

The function of emotions

In our present-day lives, emotions also have a specific function. An emotion can have several functions:

  • Emotions can motivate you to take action. When you have an important exam, fear can give you the drive to study more.
  • Emotions can make you avoid When you feel fear, you tend to flee from a situation.
  • Emotions play a role in decision making. A decision is not always rational and logical, because consequences can also have sentimental value.
  • Emotions function as a signal to others. By showing certain emotions, you can make it clear how you feel. Conversely, you can also make predictions about the behaviour of others by interpreting emotions.
  • You can also consciously take certain actions to ensure that you experience more positive emotions and fewer negative emotions. For example, finding a hobby that makes you happy.

 

Exercise

Write about moments when you experience strong emotions. See if you can identify your emotions.
Which of the elements do you recognize? Were you aware that these elements were part of your emotion? Can you also consider what the function of the emotion (s) you experience is? What are they associated with? How do they relate to the choices you make?

 

Sources:

 

Many studies in positive psychology have shown that gratitude is associated with happiness. It is important that you regularly reflect on what you are grateful for. Many addicts struggle with feeling that they are not good enough or feel that they have failed as a result of their years of addiction.

A person is naturally inclined to focus on the negative aspects. Therefore, it is understandable that when you are at the beginning of your recovery process, you are mainly focused on what could be improved or what you find difficult in your life. Motivate yourself to start keeping a gratitude diary. It will help you to be more optimistic in and content with life. You will also be more friendly with regard to your social environment, such as your friends and family, because you won’t be focusing solely on yourself.

What are you grateful for?

On a daily basis, either at the end or start of your day, reflect on three things that you are grateful for. This can be something very small, such as ‘a compliment from a colleague’. Or something big, such as gratitude for your good health.

The more concrete you define your points, the more you will experience the feeling of gratitude. Furthermore, try to think of new things each time. If you lapse into the same points every day, there is a chance that you will start to consider it as something ‘normal’.

Questions to help you experience more gratitude

  • What happened today that you are grateful for? Example: I had a nice day at work.
  • Who helped you today? Example: a good friend who checked a cover letter for you.
  • Who surprised you in a positive way today? Example: a cheerful bus driver who happily wished you good morning.
  • Have you laughed at something or someone today? Example: a smart comment from your child.
  • Were you touched by something you have seen, heard or read today? Example: a nice article in the newspaper.

How often?

Try to write down three points daily, at a fixed time. If this is not feasible, do it every week on a fixed day. If you regularly reflect on what you are grateful for, you will notice the greatest effects.

If you decide to work on yourself with the support of a professional, your own motivation is vital. You’ve probably already thought about this and even set concrete goals for yourself. Nevertheless, we would like to challenge you to dwell a little longer on the question: what is your motivation?

Intrinsic or Extrinsic Motivation?

There are two types of motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. You are intrinsically motivated when you do something that you want to do or because you like to do it. Intrinsic motivation arises from an internal drive. It’s about your needs, values ​​and interests. Your health can be a reason to take better care of yourself and to live a healthier life.

If your motivation is formed by an external factor or source, then you are extrinsically motivated. You do something because you have to or because someone else wants you to. For example, a partner who threatens with divorce if their alcoholic partner does not stop drinking.

Intrinsic motivation is more successful

The advantage of being intrinsically motivated is that you are stimulated from within to work on yourself. With extrinsic motivation, an external stimulus is required to achieve the behavioural change. Therefore, with extrinsic motivation there is an increased chance of relapsing.

What are you doing it for?

Take the time to consider what the real motivation behind your self-development is. Write this down as extensively as possible. Share this with someone close to you or with your professional. Others will be able to help you with this. Above all, be honest with yourself. What drives you to let go of an old (unhealthy) habit and to work on yourself?

Remember: if you have a clear picture of what motivates you, you will be able to fall back on this during difficult moments. See it as something that will motivate you to persevere.

During your treatment, you can actively take part in your recovery. A significant part of your recovery process takes place in between the conversations with your professional, in your daily life. You will work on exercises and to-dos that are an important part of the treatment.

Collaboration

By actively participating, you take control of your recovery. You closely collaborate with your professional. To ensure that your professional can work alongside you during your treatment, they need sufficient information about your life.
For this reason the professional can ask you to fill in questionnaires or exercises.
You can record this information in the NiceDay app.

Registering your process

In NiceDay, you can write in your diary, track how you’re doing with the Check-in, or use specific trackers to monitor behavior/emotions/symptoms/events over an extended period. You can fill in exercises (voluntarily or as instructed). You can view to-do’s created by your professional or create your own and follow through with them.

By registering the steps you take towards your recovery, you become more aware of your situation. Additionally, it enhances your self-insight (such as your feelings and behavior) as you can regularly reflect on your progress.

Below, you will find a few reasons why creating registrations is valuable to your recovery process:

  1. Moments of self-reflection are crucial during your process of change. How far have you already come? Which steps – small or big – have you already taken? Through your registrations, you will be able to see how a certain behaviour or thinking pattern has changed and the progress that you have made.
  2. Not feeling so well? Look back at the times when you felt better and when things were going well. By reflecting on this, you will remind yourself that you have felt better in the past. It is important to investigate what those moments looked like and what it was that made you feel better.
  3. When you write about it right after an important situation, you will have the best memory of what exactly happened and how you felt during. You will be able to learn a lot from this.
  4. You and your professional can get a good idea of ​​what exactly is going on, which moments are difficult for you, what thoughts you have or what you feel.
  5. Because your professional is already aware of what has happened before a session, a session is more purposeful and often more useful.

It can help to write down why you want to actively take part in your recovery. You can use this if you need extra motivation.


Sources:

Exercise helps us to stay healthy and can prevent all kinds of diseases. But there are also psychological benefits of exercise that we should take into consideration.

Exercise and stress

When we are stressed, our body produces the hormone cortisol, also known as the ‘stress hormone’. Having too much of this hormone for a long period of time can have negative effects on your health on the long-term. Exercise contributes to the reabsorption of cortisol. When we are afraid, anxious or angry, a significant amount of cortisol is present in our body. When we exercise, our body is able to process this hormone, which helps to reduce stress.

Exercise will also release more dopamine in the body. An increase in dopamine levels is associated with an elevated mood. In addition, exercise results in an increase in endorphins, known as the anti-stress hormone. Finally, you will increase your serotonin level by exercising. This hormone is important for mood, impulse control and self-confidence.

Exercise is also an excellent way to reduce muscle tension, which has a significant impact on stress. On the one hand, exercising serves as a distraction that calms us and reduces anxiety. On the other hand, the recreational aspect of exercise and sports leads to the release of a lot of emotional tension.

Exercise and a good feeling

In addition, regular exercise naturally ensures that you keep your fitness levels up. By taking care of our bodies and pushing our boundaries, our self-esteem increases. After exercising, we get a feeling similar to the feeling we get when we reach a goal. This, in turn, ensures that we value ourselves higher. One of the effects that exercise also has on the brain is the activation of endorphin production. Endorphins are chemicals that act as neurotransmitters. Their job is to reduce physical pain (almost like a medicine) while creating a feeling of happiness.

Exercise in the right way

The guideline with regard to exercise for adults aged 18 to 55 years is to engage in at least half an hour of moderately intensive physical activity for six days a week. This can be, for example, a half hour of brisk walking or cycling. Keep in mind that this is a minimum. If you exercise more or more intensively, you will also experience more health benefits. Exercise does not necessarily have to be sports. House chores, grocery shopping or working on your home can also count. It is also not necessary to be physically active for half an hour each time. Every period of exercise of at least 10 minutes counts and you can distribute these blocks throughout the day. Every little bit helps, therefore:

  • Take the stairs.
  • Leave the car and go cycling.
  • Do your shopping on foot or by bike.
  • Take a walk during your lunch break.
  • Get off the bus one stop in advance and walk for 10 minutes.

Sources

Hallal, P. C., Victora, C. G., Azevedo, M. R., & Wells, J. C. (2006). Adolescent physical activity and health. Sports medicine, 36(12), 1019-1030.

Voedingscentrum, Gezondheidsraad

 

What is sleep?

Sleep is the period of inactivity and absence of waking consciousness; the body can rest during this inactive period. Sleep is a necessity of life; without sleep we would not be able to function and or even survive! On average, a person needs about seven to eight hours of sleep. Too little (less than six hours) and too much (more than nine hours) can pose a risk for your health.

Sleep consists of four phases: you begin with the shallow phases (phase 1 & 2) and then you enter an increasingly deep phase (phase 3). From deep sleep you enter the REM (Rapid Eye Movements) phase, this is the phase during which the most vivid dreams occur and your brain is very active. When you are dreaming, your ‘big’ muscles relax, and you cannot get up. However, your small muscles are not relaxed, and your eyes move a lot behind your eyelids (hence the name Rapid Eye Movements).

As the night progresses, the amount of deep sleep decreases and the amount of REM sleep increases. This means that in the final hours of the night – when there is relatively more light and you experience more REM sleep, among other things – you are more easily woken up than at the beginning of the night. Furthermore, there are also many individual differences in the structure and duration of sleep. A factor that has a major influence on this is age. For example, babies sleep longer and deeper than the elderly, who have a much shorter sleep.

What is the function of sleep?

In general, we humans are busy and social creatures. We go to work, socialize, play sports, rush for our train, prepare food and so on. All of these activities cost us energy and so it is important to recover from them. Sleeping properly helps you to. The aforementioned deep sleep (phase 3) and dream sleep are the most important. Deep sleep provides physical recovery and dream sleep provides mental recovery. During the day, we are exposed to things that (unconsciously and/or consciously) cause stress. The great thing about sleep is that it reduces our stress levels significantly.

Why is sleep so important?

There are short- and long-term consequences to having a disturbed sleep pattern. In the short term, it can cause memory problems and/or concentration problems. In the long term, it can negatively affect our immune system, making us more susceptible to diseases and also increasing the risk of chronic conditions. Examples of these conditions are type two diabetes, dementia and depression. In addition, when someone is dealing with depression, a disturbed sleep rhythm can make the depression worse. Therefore, it is very important to consider sleep a priority. Failure to do so can have unpleasant consequences. Read the tips on how to fall asleep more easily at the bottom of this article.

Melatonin

Melatonin is the sleep hormone produced in the pineal gland in the brain. Ideally, the melatonin level starts to rise in the early to late evening, making you sleepy, and then stays high for most of the night, keeping you asleep. In the early morning, the melatonin level will drop and you feel ‘awake’ again.

In humans, natural melatonin production is directly linked to light exposure. In the presence of bluish light (from sunlight or light from a screen), the production of melatonin is inhibited. When exposure to light decreases, natural melatonin production is restored. The body will then want to undertake fewer activities and it will prepare for the night.

Sleeping for too long

In addition to the people who sleep badly and don’t get enough sleep, there are also some people who sleep too long. If you sleep shortly and badly, you might see this as a luxury problem, but nothing could be further from the truth. Sleeping too long can have unpleasant consequences. Headaches are a nasty consequence of sleeping too long; your body needs moisture and food, but because you are still fast asleep, your body becomes dehydrated. This can give you a headache and can cause you to wake up feeling unpleasant.

In addition, by sleeping too long, you run the risk of waking up tired, which can lead to you feeling like you have not slept that much. In such situations, don’t reward yourself with a few more hours of sleep! Doing this confuses your biological clock and causes it to become unbalanced. Your body does not understand what is happening and this keeps you tired.

Many people dealing with depression report that they sleep badly and very little. But this does not apply to everyone; about 15% of people with depression say they sleep a lot. People who are not dealing with depression, but who do sleep a lot, are also more likely to develop depression or anxiety symptoms.

Therefore, stick to the rule and try to limit your sleep to 7-8 hours each night (when aged between 18 and 64 years old). Are you still tired after 8 hours of sleep and sleep at least 9-10 hours every day? To be on the safe side, you can have your blood tested by the doctor to ensure that you are not dealing with an underlying medical condition.

Bad habits?

“When I can’t sleep, can’t I just do something else in bed, such as like watching TV or reading?” It’s a logical idea, but by doing this, you subconsciously replace the function of your bed with all kinds of other activities. Before you know it, you won’t only associate your bed with sleep, but with all kinds of other activities instead. The problem is that these other activities do not go hand in hand with sleeping, increasing your chances of developing sleep problems. What you can do about this? The answer is very simple. Here are a few helpful tips to help you give your bed its proper function back:

Keep fixed times for going to bed and waking up. This way, your body gets used to the timing and you can fall asleep more easily.

  • Turn on the light and open the curtains immediately when you wake up. This will strengthen the sleep/wake rhythm.
  • Make sure you only use your bed for sleeping. Not for other activities such as watching TV, reading or using your phone.
  • Do something active in the early evening hours; go for a walk or do some exercise! However, do not do this within the two hours prior to going to sleep, this can cause sleeping problems.
  • Taking a hot shower a few hours before going to bed helps to relax your body.
  • Don’t eat heavy meals late at night, and don’t go to bed on an empty stomach. Do not drink too much: 1 glass of water before going to bed is sufficient and ensures that you do not become dehydrated while sleeping.
  • Avoid screens such as a telephone or television screen as the bright light disrupts the production of melatonin. Or at least turn down the brightness of your screens and turn on the blue filter!
  • Pay attention to the amount of alcohol, caffeinated drinks or other narcotics you use. They also affect the quality of your sleep.
  • Make sure you have a good balance between activities and relaxation. Rest plentily and begin relaxing towards the end of the day.
  • Try to get used to the darkness at night and keep the lights turned off if you have to go to the bathroom.
  • It’s important to avoid daytime naps. Taking naps during the day confuses your biological clock.
  • Don’t look at your alarm clock at night! Turn it over or cover it.

Sources

Hersenstichting, Slaapinfo, Medische-psychologie.nl, Psychologiemagazine

 

Do you want to know more about the three basic elements of a healthy lifestyle: sleep, nutrition and exercise? In this 3 minute video you’ll learn about the most important information!

 

By working on a healthy body, you work towards a healthy mind and increase your mental resilience. This ensures an improved ability to deal with setbacks!

Sleep

Adequate sleep is important for your body’s recovery, but the ‘right’ amount of sleep varies from person to person. In general, 7 to 9 hours of sleep is best.

When you sleep too little, your body and mind cannot recover properly, and you wake up feeling tired. When this happens too often, it can result in health complaints. These complaints lead to the quality of your sleep becoming even worse, and consequently causing even more complaints.

The opposite can also take place. When you sleep too much, you become less active. This causes your fitness to deteriorate, consequently causing you to tire more quickly. As a result, you end up sleeping more, causing a further deterioration in fitness.

Improve your sleep

Are you having trouble finding an effective sleep rhythm? These tips will help you improve your sleep:

  1. In the evening, do not eat too heavily or too much, but also not too little. Avoid sugary foods and caffeinated drinks such as black tea, coffee, energy drinks and soft drinks a few hours before bed.
  2. Get enough exercise during the day, but not right before going to sleep.
  3. A warm shower in the evening can help.
  4. Try to put your phone away 1 to 2 hours before going to sleep and avoid other screens, such as the television. This way, your body can better prepare for the night.

Exercise

In addition to the right amount of sleep, exercise is an indispensable element of a healthy lifestyle. The guideline for adults is to exercise at a moderate intensity for at least half an hour, 6 days a week, such as briskly walking or cycling.

Exercise is important because it keeps you fit. Furthermore, it increases your self-esteem because you are taking better care of your body, pushing your boundaries and feeling increasingly fitter and stronger. Exercise improves your state of mind, affects your mood, increases your resilience and can contribute to a better night’s sleep.

Would you like to exercise a little more? These tips will help you on your way!

  1. Choose a sport that you enjoy and that suits you.
  2. To stay motivated, you can bring a sports buddy, you can push each other in the right direction!
  3. Take the bike to work more often. Are you going by public transport? Get off a stop earlier and walk for a while! On our blog page, you can find more tips on how to become more active.

Nutrition

Food is your body’s fuel. A healthy and varied diet also affects your mood. This is because food can influence certain chemicals in the brain that are involved in our emotions.

Healthy food also ensures a better night’s sleep. When you eat regularly and healthily, your body will be able to absorb enough energy to function properly during the day. The energy then decreases in the evening, so you start to feel tired and can sleep better.

Do you want to improve or adjust your diet?

  1. Prepare three healthy and varied meals every day. You can also eat healthy snacks, such as carrots with hummus or a piece of fruit.
  2. Try to moderate your consumption of alcohol and caffeine.
  3. To find out which foods are healthy, you can follow the guidelines in the ‘Wheel of Five’. When you follow these guidelines, your body will be able to get enough energy from all the nutrients.

Conclusion

In conclusion, adequate sleep, regular exercise and a healthy diet are the basis of a healthy body and mind. Try and see where you can make improvements and discuss this with your professional. By doing this, you will lay a strong foundation for your recovery.

If you want more information about living an active and healthy life, take a look at our Lifestyle library. If you have any questions regarding this information, you can ask your professional!

Sources

Gezondheidsraad, Voedingscentrum, Hersenstichting, Voedingscentrum Schijf van Vijf, Thuisarts